University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies / Red Teaming

The University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies (UFMCS), brings a unique, tailored approach to providing education focused on decision support. The core of our curriculum is based on applied critical thinking, fostering cultural empathy, self-awareness and reflection, and groupthink mitigation. Our premise is that people and organizations court failure in predictable ways, and that they do so by degrees, almost imperceptible, and that they do so according to their mindset, biases, and experience, which are formed in large part by culture and context. Our education involves more than Socratic discussion and brainstorming. We believe that good decision processes are essential to good outcomes. To that end, our curriculum is rich in divergent processes, red team tools, and liberating structures, all aimed at decision support. We borrow techniques, methods, frameworks, and best practices from several sources and disciplines to create an education and practical application method that we find to be the best safeguard against individual and organizational tendencies toward biases, errors in cognition, and groupthink. Our approach has proven effective in units and organizations from brigades to the Joint Staff. Click here for our Information Brochure.

UFMCS offers five ATRRS managed programs of instruction: An 18 week Leaders Course, a 9 week Stop-Gap Leaders Course, a 6 week Members Course, a 2 week Critical Thinking for Red Team Practitioners Course (no ASI), and 2-28 day Tailored Critical Thinking and Groupthink Mitigation programs. All UFMCS courses are also available as MTTs.

What is Red Teaming

Red Teaming is a function executed by trained, educated, and practiced team members that provides commanders an independent capability to fully explore alternatives in plans, operations, concepts, organizations, and capabilities in the context of the operational environment and from the perspectives of our partners, adversaries, and others.

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Our Mission

The UFMCS mission is to develop Army leaders who are agile and adaptive critical thinkers, and who operate effectively in complex and rapidly changing operational environments.
The mission of the UFMCS is multidimensional:

• UFMCS provides functional training for ASIs 7G and 7J – Red Team leaders and members.
• UFMCS, in concert with Army University provides Applied Critical Thinking (ACT) and Groupthink Mitigation (GTM) education across all Army Centers and Schools.
• UFMCS provides tailored programs of education or problem facilitation to operational units associated with training or pre-deployment.
• UFMCS supports combat development and 2025 conceptualization with education and facilitation.
• UFMCS engages with organizations external to the Army as an engine for continued innovation across the cognitive dominance domain.
• UFMCS serves as the Executive Agent for the Army proponent for Red Teaming and serves as a repository of tools and best practices for Red Teaming across DoD.